The aims of the research work summarised in this paper are twofold. The first goal is to make available a large number of new experimental results generated by testing specimens of grey cast iron under both constant and variable amplitude fretting fatigue loading. The second goal is to formulate an advanced fretting fatigue design approach based on the combined use of the Modified W.hler Curve Method, the Theory of Critical Distances and the Shear Stress-Maximum Variance Method. The validation exercise based on the experimental results being produced demonstrates that the proposed methodology is a powerful tool suitable for designing mechanical assemblies against fretting fatigue.